U.S. patent number 7,047,601 [Application Number 09/531,769] was granted by the patent office on 2006-05-23 for spray applicator belt hook.
Invention is credited to Donald Michael Vernon-Woods.
United States Patent |
7,047,601 |
Vernon-Woods |
May 23, 2006 |
Spray applicator belt hook
Abstract
A Spray Applicator Belt Hook for use in conjunction with spray
applicator bottles. These bottles are usually of 500 mL or 1 L
capacity; usually contain a chemical or liquid substance for use in
cleaning, gardening or other duties whereby the belt hook allows
the user to carry the spray bottle on their belt when not in
use.
Inventors: |
Vernon-Woods; Donald Michael
(Adelaide SA, AU) |
Family
ID: |
36423642 |
Appl.
No.: |
09/531,769 |
Filed: |
March 21, 2000 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
24/3.12 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A45F
5/02 (20130101); A45F 5/021 (20130101); B05B
15/62 (20180201); A45F 2200/0575 (20130101); Y10T
24/1394 (20150115); A45F 2200/0566 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A44B
21/00 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;24/3.6,3.12,904 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Sandy; Robert J.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A spray applicator belt hook for supporting an article onto a
wearer's belt, the belt hook comprising: a belt retaining portion
including a rear planar wall member having a free end and a first
top end, a front planar wall member having a top end and a bottom
end, and a bridge member having a planar resting surface; the
bridge member integrally connecting to each of the top ends of the
first and second wall members to parallely space the first and
second wall members from each other, the spacing between the rear
wall member and the front wall member and the planar resting
surface define an aperture for retaining the wearer's belt
therethrough; and an article supporting portion including a planer
rest member and a planar rest guard, the planar rest member having
an innermost joining portion and an outermost joining portion, the
innermost joining portion being integrally joined to the bottom end
of the front planar wall member and positioning the planar rest
member at an acute angle measured from the planar resting surface
of the bridge member, the planar rest guard integrally joined and
extending from the outermost joining portion of the planar rest
member, the rest guard positioned at a 90 degree angle to the
planar rest member, the planar rest member and the rest guard for
supporting the article thereto.
2. The belt hook according to claim 1, wherein the acute angle is
25 degrees.
3. The belt hook according to claim 1, wherein the article intended
for supporting is a spray bottle.
4. The belt hook according to claim 1, wherein the free end of the
planar rear wall member includes a protuberance for fitting beneath
a bottom edge of the belt.
5. The belt hook according to claim 1, wherein the belt hook is
configured as a left handed spray applicator belt hook or a right
handed spray applicator belt hook.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is related to Australian Application 475/1999,
filed Feb. 17, 1999, entitled "Spray Applicator Belt Hook".
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The spray applicator belt hook was initially designed to fill a
need in the cleaning industry where cleaning staff were losing time
having to walk back to their trolley to fetch their spray bottle
(applicator), or, if taking it with them into the office to be
cleaned, would be left with only one free hand to work with. Many
spray bottles have been lost when put down and forgotten, or left
behind at the end of a shift only to be found by office staff
returning to work on the following day. This problem also created
the possibility of office staff coming into contact with chemicals
they have no understanding of and which if used incorrectly could
cause injury to the person misusing them. The spray applicator belt
hook overcomes these problems.
SUMMARY
An object of the present invention is to provide a spray applicator
belt hook for use in conjunction with spray applicator bottles.
These bottles are usually of 500 ml or one liter capacity, and
usually contain a chemical or liquid substance for use in cleaning,
gardening or other duties whereby the belt hook allows the user to
carry the spray bottle on their belt when not in use.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the use of the present
invention.
FIG. 3 is a side elevation thereof;
FIG. 4 is a front elevation illustrating the invention;
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The spray application belt hook is a double U-shaped piece of
polypropylene which slips over the belt of an operator allowing the
operator to carry a spray bottle with them where ever they go
eliminating wasted time walking back to the trolley and minimizing
the incidents of lost bottles and the possibility of injury to
untrained persons.
Trials of the belt hook over the past year in the working
environment have demonstrated a labor cost saving to the contractor
of 6%, happier cleaning staff and no lost spray bottles.
The belt hook would not necessarily be restricted in application
just to the cleaning industry. The Belt Hook would be a useful
adjunct to any endeavor where a spray applicator is being used.
The spray applicator belt hook is made in one piece of
polypropylene through a process of injection molding. It has a
double U-shaped configuration set in opposing directions. The body
of the belt hook is a modified belt clip with an added platform,
called the rest, set at 90 degrees to the clip. At the end of the
rest is a vertical projection set at 90 degrees to the Rest called
the rest guard.
The rest and rest guard support a spray applicator bottle under the
sprayer trigger mechanism while the belt clip supports the whole on
the users belt. The angle of the rest has been calculated to
conform with the angle of the sprayer trigger mechanism which is a
constant angle on most generic spray applicators.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4, where the spray applicator belt hook is
shown as 120 and is in perspective view, it can be seen that the
spray applicator belt hook has a belt retaining portion and an
article supporting portion. The article shown in FIG. 2 is a spray
that is usually of 500 ml or one liter capacity. The belt retaining
portion including a rear body wall 121, a front body wall 122, and
a bridge 125. The rear body wall 121 having a free end 1211 and an
top end 1212 opposite from the free end 1211 The free end 1211
having a small protuberance 127 extending therefrom that fits
beneath the bottom edge of a wearers belt 132 (FIG. 2). The front
body wall 122 having a top end 1222 and a bottom end 1221 opposite
from the top end 1222. The bridge 125 is integrally joined to each
of the top end 1212 of the rear body wall 121 and to the top end
1222 of the front body wall 122 thereby bridging the two walls 121,
122 at their respective top ends 1212, 1222. The bridge 125
includes a bottom surface that defines a resting surface 126. The
resting surface 126 of the bridge 125 and the adjoining front body
wall 122 to the rear body wall 121 forms an aperture 128 below the
bridge 125 which sits atop the wearers belt 133 (FIG. 2) with the
belt 132 passing through the aperture 128.
The article supporting portion being integrally joined to the belt
retaining portion. The article supporting portion having an angular
rest 124 and a rest guard 123. The angular rest 124 having an
innermost joining portion and an outermost joining portion
laterally spaced from each other, where the innermost joining
portions is integrally joined to and extending outward from the
bottom end 1221 of the front wall 122 of the belt retaining portion
thereby integrally joining the article supporting portion to the
belt retaining portion. The angular rest 124 which faces outward
from the wearers body is positioned at a 25 degree angle from a
horizontal plane the is made from the rest 126 of bottom surface of
the bridge 125. This angular rest 124 conforms to the slope of a
plunger mechanism 135 (FIG. 2) of a spray applicator bottle 136
(FIG. 2) and facilitates the support of the spray applicator bottle
136 on the upper portion of a rest surface 130. At the outermost
joining portion of the angular rest 124 and extending at a right
angle to the angular rest 124 is a vertical section which acts as a
rest guard 123 and which retains the spray applicator bottle 136 on
the uppermost surface 130 of the angular rest 124 and against an
inner surface 131 of the rest guard 123, as shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 depicts a belt 132 fitted with the spray applicator belt
hook 120 where the belt passes through the aperture 128 of the belt
hook formed by the two opposed body walls 121 and 122 (FIG. 1) and
supported by the top 133 of the belt 132 and by the underside of
the bridge 125 at rest 126 at the top of the aperture 128. The
spray applicator bottle 136 is then supported under it's pressure
plunger mechanism 135 and to the rear of the trigger mechanism 134
and on the uppermost part of the rest surface 130 (FIG. 1) and
against the inner surface 131 of the rest guard 123. This allows
the spray applicator unit to be easily carried by the user on the
users belt when the spray applicator is not being used leaving both
hands free for other tasks to be carried out.
FIG. 3 shows where rest guard 123 and angular rest 124 are each
positioned an a 25 degree angle from the horizontal plane that is
made from the resting surface 126 of the bridge 125. Angular rest
124 and rest guard are each shown as planar members. FIG. 4 shows
where walls 121 and 122 are each planar members spaced parallel
from each another.
Preferably, the spray applicator belt hook has an overall length of
117 mm, a body width of 21 mm, a rest width of 20 mm, a rest guard
length of 30 mm, the rest angle to the body of 25 degrees, and a
material thickness of 3 mm. The spray applicator belt hook as shown
in the drawing figures illustrates a left hand model where in FIG.
3 the article supporting portion (i.e., 123, 124) is angled
clockwise from the belt retaining portion (i.e., 121, 122, 125).
And while left and right handed models will be manufactured, it is
assumed that a right handed model (not shown) would constitute an
obvious alternate embodiment of the present invention where the
article supporting portion is angled anticlockwise from the belt
retaining portion.
A listing describing the drawing reference numerals is as follows:
120 spray applicator belt hook 121 rear body wall 1211 free end of
rear body wall 1212 top end of rear body wall 122 front body wall
1221 bottom end of front body wall 1222 top end of front body wall
125 bridge 127 protuberance 126 resting surface 128 aperture 132
belt 133 top of belt 123 rest guard 131 inner surface of rest guard
124 angular rest 130 uppermost surface of the angular rest 136
spray applicator bottle 134 trigger mechanism 135 pressure plunger
mechanism
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